About
A brokerage built around the homes themselves.
Lamar Realty represents architectural and historic homes across Metro Detroit. We work in a small, considered way.
Orgin
Lamar Realty began with a frustration.
Marcus Lamar spent twelve years as an architect at SmithGroup before getting his real estate license in 2017. The frustration was simple: architectural homes — homes he knew intimately as a designer — were being marketed without any acknowledgment of what made them significant. Listings for mid-century landmarks read identically to listings for tract houses. Photography reduced complex spatial designs to wide-angle real estate clichés. The marketing of homes had become an afterthought even when the homes themselves were extraordinary.
Lamar Realty was founded in 2019 to do that work differently. The brokerage represents homes selected for their architectural or historic significance, and represents them with the editorial rigor that significance deserves. The catalog is intentionally small. The marketing is intentionally specific. The work is done by people who care about architecture as a subject, not just real estate as a transaction.
In the years since, the brokerage has grown to three agents, twelve neighborhoods of focus, and a small but durable client base built almost entirely on referral. The founding frustration remains the operating principle.
Philosophy
What we believe, and what that means in practice.
01
Homes are records of choices.
Every architectural home is the result of decisions — by its original architect, by its owners across decades, by the people who maintained or altered it. The best representation of a home begins with understanding those choices. We spend time with each property before we list it. We research its history. We talk to former owners when possible. The marketing that results is informed by what the home actually is, not by what its square footage suggests.
02
The buyer matters as much as the property.
Most brokerages optimize for transaction volume. Our operating constraint is that the right buyer for a significant home is not always the highest bidder. We work to surface that right buyer — through editorial marketing, through direct outreach to design-aware audiences, through patience when patience is what the situation requires. A faster sale is not always a better sale.
03
Small is the point.
We could be larger. We’ve made a deliberate choice not to be. Each property in our active inventory gets full attention from one of our agents and from our marketing process. Adding more agents or more listings would require us to either compromise that attention or hire support roles that distance us from the work. Neither has felt right. The brokerage as it exists now is the brokerage we want.
Meet our Agents
The agents behind Lamar Realty.
Elena Park
- Senior Agent
Naomi Whitfield
- Senior Agent
Marcus Lamar
- Founder · Principal Broker
How We Work
The practical details of representing or buying a home with us.
01
Small is the point.
We typically meet with prospective sellers at the property before any commitment is made. The first conversation is about the home, its history, and what the seller is hoping to accomplish. If we’re the right brokerage for the property, we’ll outline our approach, our timeline, and our compensation structure. If we’re not, we’ll often refer to a colleague who is. We work with a small number of seller clients at any given time so we can give each property full attention.
02
For Buyers
We work with buyers who are specific about what they want — either architecturally, geographically, or both. The first conversation is about what they’re looking for and what their timeline allows. If we have current listings that fit, we’ll show them. If not, we’ll discuss what to watch for in the broader market and how we can help when the right property surfaces. Most of our buyer clients work with us over weeks or months rather than days.
03
For out-of-market clients
A substantial portion of our work is with clients relocating to Metro Detroit from elsewhere. We’re set up for this — we routinely host buyers for multi-day visits, coordinate with relocation specialists, and provide context about neighborhoods that’s hard to assess remotely. Our process for out-of-market clients is more involved than for local clients because the calibration matters more.
04
Compensation and terms
Our compensation structure is standard for the industry. We’re happy to discuss specifics in initial conversations once we’ve established that we’re the right brokerage for the situation. We don’t believe in upfront commitments before we’ve met and confirmed mutual fit.